Shoutbox

Whats the diferrent between .rar and .zip

they seem to do the same job.. why do they get differnet names?

Because they are made by different people and use different algorithms...on average sometimes .rar archives can compress files smaller but have other flaws...sometimes other way around...
Try to think of it like image files on the internet, there's .gifs and .jpgs some are good for some stuff and sometimes the other is good for other stuff...

yes but u can tell the different between gifs and jpgs... for example gif can i have animation but jpg cant....

so the difference is that rar can compress better?

quote:

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Originally posted by DureX
so the difference is that rar can compress better?

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Not necessarily, but most of the time, yes it can. For example I compressed a 3.94mb MP3 into a .zip archive and it was 3.83mb then into a .rar and it was 3.82mb file. Just .rar compresses files differently, but freeware .zip decompresses are more available and .zip is older and probably more trusted...
.zip files are more universally compatible...
.rar files are better at compressing most the time, but newer...
Really there's no need to think of a difference they're very similar. But they use a different mathematical principle in how they work.

thanks f or the help.. Its just that ive seen a lot of rar lately and i dont understand why they choose rar not just zip..

Anyways then i downloaded winrar and its ok.. It also supports zip... but i still prefer winzip cuz its user friendly thanks for the help

-DureX